


Ink Black Anxiety

by b0ywife



Series: College AU with Pythias [4]
Category: Hello Charlotte (Video Games)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Interspecies Relationship(s), No Tentacle Sex, Tentacles, trans!Charlotte Wiltshire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26037346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b0ywife/pseuds/b0ywife
Summary: Scarlett called! Charlotte likes her sister a lot, and she miss seeing her everyday. Scarlett asks something that Charlotte can't help but begin to think about however.Also, what does Frei hides? It's something all Pythias have! (Actually not exactly, but it's hard to explain!)
Relationships: Charlotte Wiltshire/Frei (Hello Charlotte), Oracle/Charlotte Wiltshire
Series: College AU with Pythias [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885834
Kudos: 7





	Ink Black Anxiety

**Author's Note:**

> whoops. i don't really care that i'm filling a lot of the fandom tag tbh, i gotta get people into my ship and i want something to read, so i will read my own stuff because i feel alone :( help me out or ignore me lol
> 
> i want to write Frei meeting siblings next time! perhaps siblings' friends too! i want Q84 and V19 there too.  
> Delirium is probably the aliens' friend. Dunno about Eden? I want her to be some popular girl from Biology studies perhaps, or even hazard stuff. I bet the pure white one is studying Literature lol.
> 
> (researching for ideas for the next chapter also made me accidentally begin to ship Charlotte with White Haired Freya, y'all might get some smut and non-smut soon of them too owo i'm sure nobody is going to beat me to it lololol that would require people reading my stuff) I'm still thinking about how the other Freyas appear :3c

"Are you eating okay? How is your sleep, are you taking classes alright?" Scarlett asked from the other side of the line. Charlotte nodded for a moment before remembering that her sister couldn't see what she was doing.

"Yes, I'm eating alright! I'm waking up early, and not even feeling that sleepy!" She could hear a sigh of relief.

Scarlett Eyler was Charlotte's sister. While both her and their sibling Charles took their mom's last name, their father was much more attached to Charlotte and never hid his favoritism even after he was divorced from, enough that only Charlotte received the Wiltshire name.

Luckily, their mom didn't have a favorite child, and since they were all very attached to her anyway, Charlotte wasn't bullied by the kids in the family or anything. If anything, she was the one who tried to bring peace between her siblings, who were often in bad terms with each other.

"I was worried about you, Charlotte. Things have been so busy here, I wanted to know from you earlier but. A lot of study and work, you know." The girl giggled, almost hugging her cellphone. She really missed her sister. "Did Charlie call you?"

She hummed, trying to remember. He sent messages more often than he called, and while he did call two weeks ago, she had been receiving only texts since then. "Kind of. He's busy with classes and his friends. Please, don't be mad at him." She tried to peacemake before something happened.

"It's fine, I will call him so he can call you, he has to be more responsible of a sibling." At least Scarlett didn't exploded about that. "Now, what about the Pythia you are living together in your dorm? How is he?"

Charlotte genuinely was growing to feel more and more at ease around the Pythia, even when he was too... Sincere. And didn't let her lie to herself as much. It was like he grew as well, from the time they met, Frei was so shy. He was really growing used to be by a human too, and that made her happy.

The day before though, when he noticed Charlotte had self harmed again, he had made such an unhappy face before helping her out. She felt bad that all the care he presented wasn't enough to "cure" her from the need to self harm.

And then, as he finished bandaging her, he held her just like when she was crying before. She wasn't crying that time. The way he held her, this time she couldn't help but notice, was really really caring. And she didn't want to let go, what caused them to accidentally nap on the couch.

"We are good friends, Scarlett. At least, I feel that this time, I really bonded with someone without forcing you and Charles to mediate." Charlotte told, fidgeting with her shirt's cloth.

"You know that we don't mind mediating, right? We get to weed the trash out!" Sometimes her sister was a bit scary. "And hey! I'm proud of you, Charlotte! Does he treat you well? He should treat you gently, or I will ask a favour to that friend of Charlie."

"Ah, he does! Please, don't ask a favour like that from Anri. He's very honest, though sometimes I don't really know what he's thinking... But Frei is so reliable, Scarlett, please trust me. I will be fine." She half begged. It was the truth, her sister didn't have to worry so much.

Scarlett was always an amazing sister. She worked so hard, with a germophobe sibling that was great with people until they touched him, and a shy small sister who didn't have the bravery to ask for respect often. And that was exactly why Charlotte had to do things alone now, because she loved and admired her sister.

In many ways, Frei was giving her the support of handling things by herself too while knowing he had her back, she really owed him. Charlotte truly admired Scarlett, she was so hardworking but had gotten used to fight the bad situations in her stead.

Charlotte was really grateful, but she had to grow up.

"Okay, I will trust you. But just because now, you are sounding stronger, okay?" Scarlett told her, bringing a shy grin to the white haired girl. "Can I just ask you a question?"

"Sure?" She walked to the sofa, making a small "oof" when throwing all her weight on it.

"So, you and Frei are friends?"

"Huh, yes. I told you before, right?" Charlotte grinned.

"Sorry, I know that. It's just that, sometimes... I might be using too much amatonormativity, but the way you speak so much of him reminds me of romantic couples I've talked to in the past." Charlotte choked on air and tried to answer right away. "No, it's okay! I'm sorry for asking that."

They talked some more after that, reminiscing childhood discussions and recent classes, and Charlotte slowly began to forget that, until they had to say bye and Scarlett told her with certainty that Charles would call.

The silence was welcoming, but she felt her cheeks burn painfully. Her hands were cold, but they quickly heated up when she tried to cool her face down with them. Charlotte guessed that it really looked like they were a couple sometimes.

Having a friend was really, really nice, but Charlotte now didn't know how close was too close. She wanted friends for so long, and now that she has such a close one, she gets reminded once in a while that there's no barrier. There's no hard limit between romance and friendship. They could so easily slide between them two.

Charlotte had crushes on the past, but they never ended in anything. Her sibling's friends Anri and Vincent, her neighbor's nephew Felix, some other kids of her school classes. They didn't got close, or they were terribly awkward about getting close. They couldn't follow her mind, or she couldn't follow theirs.

She didn't knew what Frei was thinking sometimes, but it was easy to understand once she did. And she really wanted to keep understanding him. As she went to the kitchen, seeing his tall figure making lunch for them, she stopped by the door, unsure. He always seemed to understand and really want to understand her as well.

Charlotte noticed then something she amazingly didn't know after quite the time of knowing the Pythia. Something came out of him, she wasn't sure if that was from inside him, or his skin or what. It looked like a fleshy mass of meat with eyes. Big eyes, some smaller, that once spotting her, the whole appendage froze. They left the pots down on the table as Frei quickly turned to her.

"H-hi, I haven't finished yet." He looked as nervous as when they first met. It made her immensely curious about what she saw.

"Frei, what was it?" She got closer and his eyes looked to the sides nervously, as if trying to find how to get out of the conversation. "Is that a Pythia thing?"

"Yes, Miss Wiltshire." He nodded, looking more relieved. "We don't use it all the time, so I didn't have the opportunity to talk to you about it. I heard that humans find similar things... unsettling."

That was true, but Charlotte was brimming in curiosity. He chuckled when he noticed that she was still searching for it.

"Do you, do you wish to see it, Miss Wiltshire?" She nodded excitedly. Frei smiled shyly, letting the appendage come out again. The eyes were black with white sclera, in many sizes. She touched it, and it was fleshy but metallic like some kind of funny textured skin, and a few parts of it divided themselves to go around Charlotte's hands. "They are, hm, a bit sensitive, but they are strong so I can lift things, and useful in general."

The way they reacted to Charlotte's playing was adorable, and she felt so giddy the way it seemed to relish on the petting. "The eyes look somewhat like human eyes, just different sizes and placements." She observed. "So you can see by them too? That's amazing!"

"I would just ask you to not tell other people, it's a bit... intimate for me. For us Pythias in general, even." As she looked up, Frei had closed his eyes, covering some of his face with a hand while trembling. As she noticed him biting his lower lip strongly, Charlotte wondered how she had never noticed.

He was her friend, and he had a interesting and cool appearance. It was the first time she had noticed that handsome also fitted his description. She gasped and let go of the tentacle-like appendage, coming closer. "Frei, are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"No, it doesn't hurt, Miss Wiltshire." Even so, he had a bothered expression even after she let go, breathing carefully as if he had gone breathless before. "I apologize for worrying you, it's just sensitive."

"You should have told me not to touch them then, I don't want to hurt you ever."

Somehow, their heart fluttered, with both memories and her lovely saying. At first, when the Oracle had joined their children between themselves and with themself, for the children already caused harm to themselves so much, the hardest thing was getting used to the many many words of each other.

Especially the painful hurtful ones. They managed to get through it, but it's still something latent between them, that they have to talk through things even if they don't completely agree with each other, or they will keep hurting.

But both Frey and the Oracle wanted to answer "I don't mind if you hurt me" and that wasn't only terribly cheesy but also the way they wanted to say it unlocked a big realization. Charlotte looked concerned when their cheeks filled with a dark color. "I don't... It doesn't hurt when it's you."

"Are you sure?" He was really tall, and she just remembered that when they hugged or in times like those. She raised her hands to hold his face. "You are not forcing yourself, are you? You looked strange, I was worried that I made you feel ill by touching your tentacle things."

Frei snorted. "Tentacle things? Okay then. I apologize for worrying you about that." He covered her hands, relishing in their touch on his cheeks as well. "I'm fine, they are sensitive but not something that feel easily hurt. It mostly tickles."

Charlotte sighed in relief, her shoulders relaxing. She let go of his face, then moved to help him out with lunch. "Frei, I'm happy to learn something new about you, thank you for the opportunity! It was a fun bonding time!" She turned her head to grin at him.

The girl almost jumped in surprise when he hugged her from behind. He was tall enough that he could lay his head on hers. "It's me who should thank you, Miss Wiltshire. For not being afraid."

Were things like that that made Scarlett ask if they really were not a couple? Charlotte's cheeks burned strongly. They were really into this skinship thing. She held his hands around her and giggled. "Why would I be afraid? They are the loveliest tentacles I've ever seen!"

Frei let out an embarrassed noise, hiding his face on her hair for a while until he could join again the lunch making.


End file.
